i walk the line
by mermaidm0tel
Summary: little vignettes of ellie and riley being highkey gay
1. i think i found my best friend

_Contact Riley for details._

Ellie shook off her trepidation and dialled the number at the bottom of the paper, which was taped to the wall of the telephone booth she was currently in. She tucked the phone in between her ear and shoulder as it rang, both hands weaving through her red hair to detangle it. It was damp and unkempt from the windy New York rain.

"Hello?" a low, smooth voice crackled from the speaker.

"Shit—" Ellie gave a small start, quickly pulling her short locks into a ponytail as she spoke. They stubbornly escaped the tie immediately. "Hey, is this Riley?"

"Oh. Yeah." The girl on the other end sounded amused. "And to whom do I owe the pleasure?"

"Ellie," the redhead said. "I saw your ad thing. Uh, I mean – did you find a roommate?"

"Nah. You wanna check out the apartment?"

"Yeah! Yeah, sure. So, uh, how does this thing work?" Ellie asked tentatively, wrapping the phone cord around her finger.

Pause.

"You know what? It's raining pretty hard," said Riley. "We can discuss it here if that's cool. I can come pick you up."

It wasn't 'raining pretty hard' but Ellie sighed in relief, glad for the free ride. "Yes, please."

It took a few long minutes before a blue '67 Chevy Camaro pulled up to the curb in front of Ellie, who had long since given up trying to shield herself from the drizzle.

Inside the car sat a girl with a heart-shaped face, cheekbones high and wide. Her dark hair was pulled into a plain bun, bringing out her face. Her warm brown eyes and full lips stood out to Ellie.

Ellie's eyes skimmed over the smudges of yellow paint on the girl's sunkissed skin.

"Riley?"

"Duh," the girl said, a grin spreading across her face. She gestured to Ellie's baggage and guitar case. "You need help with that?"

"No, I got it," said Ellie, pulling the backseat door open and pushing the suitcase onto the space between the driver's seat and the rear bench. "So, uh, how'd you know it was me?"

"Lucky guess," Riley shrugged, eyes following the redhead as she got on the passenger seat.

Ellie pondered it as she secured her seat belt.

"Besides," Riley said as she moved off the sidewalk, "you kinda stick out. Do you live around here?"

"No, I live 200 odd miles away. I'm from Boston."

"Really?" Riley asked. "What brings you here, then?"

They took a left, past a street where a woman struggled with a toddler and a pram.

"NYU," Ellie stated simply. _Well, it wasn't a lie..._

Riley nodded, too busy to spare her a glance as they turned into an apartment complex.

Soon, they were making their way up to the sixth floor and to Riley's front door.

"Welcome to my humble abode."

Riley pushed the door open and gestured for Ellie to come in. She stepped inside apprehensively and the brunette followed suit, the door closing behind her.

The sight of a messy living room greeted them. The furniture was pushed right in front of the television. Brushes, tubes and cans of paint as well as pages of newspapers were scattered on the floor, and in the midst laid an unfinished painting.

"So, you're an artist?" Ellie asked, setting her bags down.

Riley laughed. "I guess. Are you hungry?"

"I'm okay."

"Let's have a look in the kitchen anyway," said Riley, treading a path to the other side of the room through the clutter of paint and paper.

Ellie slowly trailed behind her, taking a moment to gaze at the incomplete painting. She recognized the sea and the colors of the sunset.

"You like it?"

She turned to see Riley picking food out of a takeaway box on the counter.

"Yeah. You really fit the starving artist stereotype," Ellie laughed lightly. "No offense."

"None taken. I mean, there's a bit of truth in stereotypes." Riley shrugged.

"Well, that's the reason they're stereotypes."

"Exactly. Wanna see your room?"

" _My_ room, huh?" Ellie teased.

"Oh, shut up," Riley said as she made her way to the room in question.

Ellie followed behind her, already finding the paint stains on her jeans a little endearing.

"It's not much, but it's got a nice view. And hey, there's already a bed and a wardrobe."

The room was on the snug side, but Ellie had no problem with it. It fit a bed and a closet easily, and that was pretty much all she needed.

Besides, Riley was right. Looking out the window, Ellie was met with a pretty good view of the sky and the buildings on the horizon, as well as the streets outside, six floors down.

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask," she rested her hip on the windowsill, "what happened to whoever was here before?"

"Oh, my friend Tino moved out a week ago to live with his girlfriend," said Riley. "It was pretty sudden, so I kinda need help keeping up with the bills."

"Ah. So, those bills..."

"Oh yeah, since we're in a pretty shady part of town, it's about 800 a month, including water and power."

"Pssh, easy," Ellie said optimistically. "We can deal with that, no problem. You know, when I get a job."

Riley smiled coyly. "We?"

"Well, yeah." Ellie returned her smile. "I'm sold."

Later that night, Ellie thanked whoever was up there that she thought to pack her sheets. She hadn't expected to be so homesick, but having the familiarity of her bedsheets and pillowcases helped at least. She had started replacing the ones on the bed, when halfway through, a knock startled her into stopping. She looked at the door, which was ajar.

Ellie cringed. She must've been making a racket. "Yeah?"

Riley peeked in. "Hey. You okay?"

"Yeah, sorry, I just thought I'd change the sheets." Ellie smiled. "You look like a dork."

"Gee, thanks." The door swung open wider and Riley stepped in, holding a glass and a cheap bottle of wine. "Thought you might be having a hard time settling in."

"Really?" Ellie asked, eyeing the bottle. It was already open. "Don't you have class tomorrow?"

She watched as Riley made herself comfortable on the faux fur rug laying on the floor. "I do, but a little party never hurt nobody."

"True, I guess."

"Hey, you mentioned Boston's only three hours away by car. Why didn't you just drive here?"

Ellie shrugged. "My stepdad's taking it here with the rest of my stuff."

"No kidding? I thought the guitar and suitcase were all of your shit."

"Well, I kinda need more than five pairs of clothes."

"Mm, yeah, kinda." Riley laughed. She grabbed the bottle of cheap wine. "Want some?"

"I don't drink," Ellie said plainly.

"What?" Riley looked at her incredulously.

Ellie shrugged.

"Come on." Riley sloppily poured her a glass and passed it over. "Let's cheers to this."

Ellie looked at the contents of the glass and wrinkled her nose. She shifted her gaze to Riley. "Cheers to what?"

"Life, I guess."

"Pfft. Okay."

"No, seriously," said Riley, though she was smiling. She raised the bottle. "Drink it."

"You're like Darth Vader, you know?"

"Come to the Dark Side."

With a sigh, Ellie defeatedly raised her glass. It clinked against the bottle.

"To a new chapter of Ellie's life!" Riley cheered. The butt of the bottle went up and the wine went down as she took a swig.

Ellie watched her, grimacing. She took a small sip under Riley's watchful eyes. "Eugh. Gross."

"Hey, that cost me three dollars," the brunette said in mock offense.

"Ah, that must be why."

Riley laughed. "You know, you're pretty cool, Ellie."

"You're not so bad yourself."

"So, NYU, huh?" Riley prompted.

A blush crept up Ellie's cheeks. "Yeah... I actually came to model."

"Whoa. As in, like, modelling clothes?"

"No, like... naked... or whatever," Ellie said defeatedly, flushed from her chest to the tips of her ears. "Like Rose in Titanic."

"...What?"


	2. i've been thinkin', i've been thinkin'

"You think I can do it?"

Riley's voice drifted into Ellie's half-distracted ears. "Hm?"

Ellie wasn't keen on alcohol – she had witnessed Joel and Tommy's worst ever row and both had been intoxicated at the time. The thought of losing control made her wary, hence she'd never touched liquor, but Riley's infectious spirit and annoying persistence had led to this.

The two lay side by side on the floor of Riley's run-down apartment, having moved from Ellie's designated room in favor of more liquor. Empty bottles of 40s were scattered beside them.

It was definitely the liquor that had made their tongues loose. They had probably talked about a thousand things, one of them being Riley's thoughts on a gallery owner who recently offered her a chance to exhibit her work. The invitation was somewhere, she couldn't remember – she hadn't seriously considered it, when a wave of self-doubt had swept over her at the time. In the present moment, however, she thought, why not? She could certainly take that chance.

It was probably the alcohol fucking with her –

"I think... you can do anything," Ellie had said brightly, albeit slowly, cutting through her thoughts.

– or it might be the pretty girl lying beside her, but Riley felt invincible.

She craned her neck to look at Ellie, smiling fondly. She watched as the redhead tilted her head the same way, eyes transfixed by the girl's lips – Ellie was smiling too, her expression a mix of euphoria and thoughtfulness. Their faces were only centimeters apart, cheeks flushed, eyes dark. Riley managed to pull her gaze away from her lips. She felt Ellie shiver from her side, and something washed through her, warm and lovely and electric. Ellie's eyes flitted to Riley's, as if she had just then noticed their close proximity, and Riley wondered if she felt it too.

"What? Never seen a pretty girl before?" she teased, knocking her shoulder against Ellie's.

"Oh, shut up," was all Ellie could manage.

They were so close she could smell the malt liquor on Riley's breath, but when the girl spoke, she sounded strangely sober.

"This might be because we just talked each other's ears off," Riley began, "but I feel like I've known you for a long time."

Riley vaguely recalled hearing a theory that when the universe was being created, some people's atoms were near each other's, and over time the same atoms come back together; that was why some people are drawn to one another.

Suddenly somewhere between elated and nervous, Ellie breathed out a laugh.

 _Drunk words are sober thoughts_ , she mused, _or something like that_.


End file.
